Chinchou Line/HGSS
Chinchou is available by Good Rod or Super Rod in Johto in New Bark Town and on Routes 41 and 47, as well as Pallet Town, Vermillion City, Cinnabar Island, and Routes 20, 21, 26, & 27 in Kanto. Lanturn is available by Super Rod in the same places. Fishing up a Chinchou will require some luck, as you only have a 7% chance of hooking one with the Good Rod. While Chinchou aren't exactly easy Pokemon to catch, Lanturn is an okay Pokemon with decent Special stats, as well as a unique type combination, leaving it with only 2 weaknesses, 1 of which it hits for Super Effective damage with its other STAB. You can get one before you battle Jasmine, or you could backtrack to New Bark and Surf to Route 27 to try your luck for one as soon as you beat Morty. Important Matchups * Gym #6 - Jasmine (Olivine City, Steel-type): '''You should probably have evolved your Chinchou to Lanturn by now. Either way, the 2 Magnemite shouldn't be any trouble, provided you got Volt Absorb instead of Illuminate. Steelix isn't much of an issue either, because Surf should outdamage anything Steelix can do to you, even after a Screech. * '''Petrel (Team Rocket HQ): '''Thunderbolt the Zubat, Surf everything else. Surf will probably also kill Zubat, so you can do that too. * '''Ariana (Team Rocket HQ, tag battle with Lance): '''Surf or Thunderbolt 2HKOs Arbok, Ice Beam kills Gloom and Murkrow, although Gloom has Mega Drain, so you might want to have another teammate deal with that. * '''Gym #7 - Pryce (Mahogany Town, Ice-type): '''Thunderbolt can take care of Seel and Dewgong without much trouble and Surf is guaranteed to at least 2HKO Piloswine while its Mud Bomb is a 3HKO at best * '''Petrel (Goldenrod Radio Tower): '''With the Choice Specs, Lanturn should be able to OHKO the Koffing with Surf or Thunderbolt. You might want to find someone else to deal with Weezing though. Even with the Choice Specs, you only have a small chance to OHKO, while Explosion will most likely kill you unless you have at least 72 Defense. * '''Rival (Goldenrod Underground): '''Thunderbolt kills Golbat and Feraligatr. Surf kills Quilava. Magnemite can't really do anything to you (unless you're using Illuminate Lanturn, but why would you even consider that at this point?) while you wash it away with Surf. Similar deal for Sneasel. While you could hypothetically take on Meganium with Ice Beam or Signal Beam, it's probably better if you let another teammate deal with it. * '''Proton (Goldenrod Radio Tower): '''Golbat dies to a Thunderbolt, but Weezing might take 2 of them. * '''Ariana (Goldenrod Radio Tower): '''Same as the last battle with her, except you don’t have Lance with you and her Gloom evolved into Vileplume * '''Archer (Goldenrod Radio Tower): '''Equip Choice Specs. Surf everything. * '''Gym #8 - Clair (Blackthorn City, Dragon-type): With a little healing, a little luck (that Kingdra doesn’t land a crit Hyper Beam), and possibly an X Special or 2, Lanturn could conceivably solo this Gym. Thunderbolt fries Gyarados, and Ice Beam 2-3HKOs the Dragonairs. Kingdra, however, will require some healing, but after 3 or 4 Thunderbolts, it should go down. * Kimono Girls (Ecruteak Dance Theater): If you kept Signal Beam, Lanturn can use that (and some patience) to deal with Umbreon. You can do the same to Espeon, but Psychic might hurt a little. Surf washes away Flareon while Thunderbolt takes care of Vaporeon. If you have Volt Absorb, Jolteon can only hurt you with Last Resort, though Double Team can be annoying. * Ho-Oh (Bell Tower, HeartGold only): If Ho-oh sets up Sunny Day, this fight is risky, as Ho-oh likely outspeeds you, and Sacred Fire or Fire Blast 3HKOs you while you can only 3HKO with Thunderbolt. Or you can just throw your Master Ball and be done with it. * Lugia (Whirl Islands, SoulSilver only): Thunderbolt 3HKOs while Lugia 4HKOs you with Extrasensory. Or you can just throw your Master Ball and be done with it. * Rival (Victory Road): Sneasel goes down in 2 hits to any of your moves but Ice Beam. Magneton can only hit Volt Absorb Lanturn with Confuse Ray or a 4x resisted Magnet Bomb. Golbat is fried by Thunderbolt. You can 2HKO Kadabra with Signal Beam or a STAB of choice. Haunter is mostly the same, although slightly bulkier, but just watch out for getting Curse-trapped. Thunderbolt 2HKOs Feraligatr while it can only 4HKO you with Crunch or Slash. Typhlosion fares even worse, getting 2HKO’ed by Surf while it can only 6HKO you at best with Lava Plume or Swift. While you could possibly 3HKO Meganium with Ice Beam, this isn’t recommended as Petal Dance is a 2HKO. * Elite Four Will (Indigo Plateau, Psychic-type): '''Signal Beam takes down the Exeggutor, who lacks a Grass STAB to hit you with. Thunderbolt is a likely OHKO against both Xatu, but Confuse Ray can be annoying if they survive. Slowbro can survive a Thunderbolt, and can set up Amnesia turning your move from a 2HKO to a 3HKO. Signal Beam has a chance to 2HKO Jynx, but you’ll want to have some Chesto Berries, Awakenings, or whatever you use to wake up your Pokemon in case you get hit by a Lovely Kiss. * '''Elite Four Koga (Indigo Plateau, Poison-type): Ariados knows Giga Drain, but the damage from it is laughable, and you can 2 or 3HKO (depending on the healing from Giga Drain) with your STAB of choice. Again, your STAB of choice 2-3HKOs Venomoth, who can potentially 5HKO you in return with Psychic. Unless you’re sure you can take an Explosion, I wouldn’t recommend keeping Lanturn in against Forretress who will most likely OHKO if it uses it. If you get lucky and it doesn’t, then your STAB of choice will probably 2HKO. It is also not a good idea to have Lanturn fight Muk, as you can only 3HKO with your STAB, and Muk’s Gunk Shot is a guaranteed 2HKO. Crobat, on the other hand, you can just fry with Thunderbolt. * Elite Four Bruno (Indigo Plateau, Fighting-type): '''Hitmontop has Dig, which 3HKOs you, but you can simply heal while it’s underground for said move. Onix will go down instantly to Surf, while you resist every single one of Hitmonchan’s moves (barring Thunderpunch for Illuminate specimens) so you can take it down with your STAB. It’s best not to fight Hitmonlee or Machamp as High Jump Kick and Cross Chop, respectively, outdamage your STAB. * '''Elite Four Karen (Indigo Plateau, Dark-type): '''Murkrow and Houndoom go down easily enough to your STABs, but Gengar’s Focus Blast hurts, and fighting Umbreon will basically turn into a war of attrition, so you should probably have better options for them. Vileplume should probably be avoided as Petal Dance is a 2HKO, but you outspeed and Ice Beam is also a 2HKO if you feel like risking it. * '''Champion Lance (Indigo Plateau, Flying-type): '''Gyarados goes down after a single Thunderbolt. Aerodactyl and Charizard are both 2HKOed by either of your STABs. Any of the Dragonite will go down to 2 Ice Beams, but they also outspeed and 2HKO with Dragon Rush/Outrage. If you felt like setting up an X Special and/or an X Speed against one of his other mons, you could manage it with enough healing, but you should only do this if you have no other options to fight the Dragons. Kanto From this point onwards, you can fight the gyms in any order, though you will need to retrieve the Machine Parts from the Cerulean City gym before you have access to the earlier portion of Kanto. Feel free to anticipate or postpone any battles as needed. * '''Gym #9 - Brock (Pewter City, Rock-type): '''Thunderbolt the fossils to 2HKO, and Surf everything else. Kabutops has Giga Drain, but its Special Attack is low enough that Rock Slide would do more damage to you. * '''Rival (Mt. Moon, optional): '''Sneasel will be 2HKOed by Signal Beam, while only being able to 4HKO with Faint Attack. Thunderbolt will 2HKO Golbat. Magneton can’t hit you with anything besides Supersonic and a 4x resisted Magnet Bomb, so do what you want to it. Surf Typhlosion and Thunderbolt Feraligatr as usual. It’s best if you avoid Alakazam, Gengar, and Meganium. Alakazam outspeeds and will 3HKO with Psychic while Signal Beam is a low chance for a 2HKO. Gengar also outspeeds and 3HKOs with Shadow Ball while your STABs have a low 2HKO chance. Meganium can tank 3 Ice Beams while 2HKOing with Petal Dance. * '''Gym #10 - Misty (Cerulean City, Water-type): Thunderbolt 2HKOs Golduck and Starmie and 3HKOs Lapras. Stay away from Quagsire because it’s immune to both of your STABS and has Earthquake which 2HKOs you while you can only 4HKO at best with Ice Beam * Gym #11 - Lt. Surge (Vermilion City, Electric-type): '''At this point, if you’re still using Illuminate Lanturn, I don’t know what to tell you. Volt Absorb Lanturn is immune to all the Electric moves being thrown around, so have fun. Just watch out for the Electrode that knows Selfdestruct. * '''Gym #12 - Erika (Celadon City, Grass-type): '''Using Lanturn in this Gym is really risky, but you can probably OHKO Jumpluff and Tangela with Ice Beam. However, Bellossom and Victreebel are easily capable of OHKOing you with Leaf Storm and Razor Leaf, respectively, so keep Lanturn away from them at any cost. * '''Gym #13 - Janine (Fuchsia City, Poison-type): '''Thunderbolt on Crobat should just be common sense at this point. Your STAB of choice 2HKOs Weezing as long as it doesn’t explode. The 2 Ariados go down to 2 hits from your STAB of choice. Venomoth outspeeds you and can 3HKO with Sludge Bomb, but it can be managed with some healing. * '''Gym #14 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): '''While you could possibly manage it with Signal Beam and a lot of healing, everything in this Gym can 2HKO Lanturn even before setting up Calm Mind. It’s best not to send in Lanturn here. * '''Gym #15 - Blaine (Seafoam Islands, Fire-type): '''Choice Specs. Surf. Profit. * '''Gym #16 - Blue (Viridian City): Signal Beam can OHKO Exeggutor. Surf takes care of Rhydon and Arcanine, while Thunderbolt handles Gyarados and Pidgeot. Avoid Machamp because it outdamages anything you can do with either Dynamic Punch or Earthquake. * Rival (Indigo Plateau, optional): Sneasel and Magneton aren’t really threats to you, Crobat and Feraligatr go down to Thunderbolt, and Typhlosion goes down to Surf ... as usual. Alakazam and Gengar have the offensive ability to kill Lanturn, and Meganium should also be avoided for reasons you should probably know by now. * Red (Mt. Silver): '''Surf has a low chance to 2HKO Pikachu, although Volt Tackle will probably OHKO an Illuminate Lanturn. Lapras falls to 3 Thunderbolts, although it can also 3HKO you with Body Slam when factoring in damage from Hail. Your STAB of choice will 2HKO Charizard who can, at best, 3HKO with Flare Blitz or Dragon Pulse. Blastoise will most likely go down to 2 Thunderbolts while Focus Blast will 3HKO you, barring any crits or Special Defense drops. You should avoid Snorlax who can tank anything you throw at it and 2HKO with Crunch or even OHKO with Giga Impact. The same goes for Venusaur and its Giga Drain and Frenzy Plant. Moves When you catch Chinchou, it will know '''Flail, Water Gun, Confuse Ray, and Spark. None of these are overly useful (lest you want to try confuse hax) with Spark and Flail coming off its weaker Atk stat and the fact that you will already have Surf by the time you get to any area where you can catch this Pokemon. At level 23 you get Take Down which, while still coming off your weaker Atk, is more reliable in power than Flail. At level 27, just before evolving, you get the trio of Stockpile, Swallow, and Spit Up. Stockpile can be used if you want to play defensively, but Swallow and Spit Up should probably be ignored. At level 30, Lanturn gets Bubblebeam, but you still already have Surf, so it doesn't make much difference. Signal Beam is at level 35, and can be used as a relatively viable coverage move for Grass, Dark, and Psychic types. You get Discharge at 40, if you didn't feel like playing Voltorb Flip long enough to get Thunderbolt for your Electric STAB. Another defensive move comes at level 47 in the form of Aqua Ring. Then you get Hydro Pump as a stronger Water STAB at level 52. Lastly, you get Charge at level 57, which isn't really that helpful by that point. (TM/tutor compatibility) Recommended moveset: Surf/Hydro Pump, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Signal Beam Recommended Teammates *'Physical Tanks': Lanturn cannot take Physical hits. If you have something else to take them, Lanturn would very much appreciate that. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Golem, Sandslash, Quagsire, Steelix, Forretress, Weezing, Umbreon, Gligar (Gliscor), Donphan, Skarmory, Rhydon (Rhyperior) *'Ice Types:' Ice Types are capable of hitting both of Lanturn's weaknesses for Super effective damage. ** Good Pokemon that fit this description include, among others: Piloswine (Mamoswine), Jynx, Delibird *'Flying Types:' Flying Types are immune to Lanturn's Ground weakness and hit the Grass Types for Super Effective damage. They are also available far earlier than the above-mentioned Ice Types ** Good Pokemon that fit this description include, among others: Pidgeot, Noctowl, Crobat, Skarmory, Fearow Other Chinchou's stats Lanturn's stats * What Nature do I want? '''Anything that lowers Attack is preferable, especially Modest. A Defense lowering Nature would also be okay, given Lanturn's equally low physical Defense. * '''Which Ability do I want? '''Volt Absorb. It gives you an immunity that can come in handy in several major fights, while Illuminate does literally nothing for you inside of battle. * '''At what point in the game should I be evolved? '''As soon as possible. Chinchou will be caught at level 20. Gyms around the time you catch it are around 30. * '''How good is the Chinchou line in a Nuzlocke? Okay. It can take a fair few Special hits, but its physical Defensive ability is just bad. This being said, it has very good coverage with its STABs, hitting every neutrally type except Grass and Dragon, which can be handled by Ice Beam. * Weaknesses: '''Grass, Ground * '''Resistances: '''Steel (0.25x), Flying, Fire, Water, Ice * '''Immunities: None * Neutralities: Normal, Fighting, Poison, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Electric, Psychic, Dragon, Dark Category:HeartGold/SoulSilver Category:To be reviewed